Emma Raducanu has burst on to the women’s tennis scene in remarkable fashion despite the heartbreaking nature of her Wimbledon exit on Monday night. The British sensation was forced to withdraw from her fourth-round match against Australia’s Ajla Tomljanovic due to difficulty breathing.
Yet though it marked a desperately sad end to the 18-year-old’s breathtaking week at the Grand Slam, Raducanu still has plenty of positives to take away.
Raducanu entered Wimbledon ranked 338th in the world but will climb to No 175 and has pocketed a healthy £182,000, having won just £27,000 in career earnings prior to the Slam.
Just two months on from sitting her A Levels which she is currently awaiting results for, the Toronto-born British wildcard saw off the 2020 French Open finalist Marketa Vondrousova and the world No 45 Sorona Cirstea on her way to round four.
That’s despite having only made her professional WTA Tour main draw debut at the Nottingham Open on June 6, which was won by compatriot Johanna Konta.
Former British No 1 Anne Keothavong reckons despite the nature of her withdrawal, Raducanu will pick herself back up.
Keothavong told the BBC: “She’ll learn from this. It’s been a fantastic Wimbledon debut for her and next year she’ll come better prepared and stronger for it.
“She’s a sensible young girl and she still hasn’t played a full year on the tour yet. She’ll just want to get back at it.
“Knowing her the way I do, she works hard, she’s got a great work ethic, she’ll want to be back on the practice court as soon as possible and fly out to her next tournament as soon as she can but it is a lot to take in.
“We do have to remind ourselves she’s still very young and this is all still very new.
“She’s had a fabulous experience overall, it’s just a shame it had to end the way it did last night. But she’ll be stronger for it.”
Before facing Tomljanovic, Raducanu openly admitted that a Wimbledon triumph is her main career aim with no British woman having won the Championships since Virginia Wade in 1997.
“Long-term goals, my dream is to win Wimbledon,” Raducanu said. “It’s such a special Grand Slam and it’s my home slam, the support is just incredible.
“This is my first year here and I’m just having such a blast.
“I’m at the beginning of my career and I have many more years to come so I’m just really excited to get out there and start competing and showing what I can do.”
But can she go on to win Wimbledon later in her career? Have your say in our Express Sport poll below.
To find out the results and get all of the latest tennis news straight into your inbox every day, sign up to our tennis newsletter.
Let us know who you think is going to win the women’s 2021 Wimbledon singles draw after Raducanu’s withdrawal in the comments below.
For all the latest Sports News Click Here
For the latest news and updates, follow us on Google News.
